Study Shows That Neanderthals Were Significantly More Intelligent Than Previously Believed, And Were Able To Reliably Make Quality Tools

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Neanderthals aren’t typically thought of as great artisans or crafters, though they did make some pretty impressive weapons and other tools. In the past, the general consensus was that the Neanderthals may have been smart enough to survive the very difficult life that took place 200,000 to 400,000 years ago, but many of their best tools were the result more of luck than actual skill or intelligence.
Some of their best tools were made using a method called Levallois. This is where they took one piece of stone and smashed it onto another piece of stone until it became the desired shape (typically a turtle shell-like shape with sharp edges). From there, they could start knapping away to make other tools. To see how this is done, take a minute to watch this informative video:
It is widely considered to be a great method and a sign of their intelligence when compared to more privative ancestors. The creation of the initial tool, however, has long been thought of as a combination of skill and, more importantly, the core of the initial rock that was used. This means that while Neanderthals were seen as smart for their time, their intelligence levels were certainly very limited.
A new study published in the journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, however, calls that into question. The study 3D printed cores of soda-lime glass, which was based on actual flint-knapped Levallois cores that had been previously found. The researchers took these 3D printed replicas and showed that the angle that the core was struck made a much larger difference in the results than was previously believed.

Lin et al., Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 2025 (CC By 4.0)
The team reported in the study:
“The results […] demonstrat[e] a clear effect of hammer AOB [angle of blow] on the morphology and fracture trajectory of Levallois flakes. Our findings are consistent with those of previous experimental studies, showing that when core morphology and platform configuration are held constant, striking a Levallois core more perpendicularly, at a lower AOB, produces larger and heavier flakes compared to those struck at a more oblique AOB.”
This means that the Neanderthals not only knew how to shape the tools they were using, but they had much more control over it than previously thought. While the core of the Levallois was important, it seems that the Neanderthals could overcome even poor cores to get the tools to turn out how they wanted. This was done by striking the stones at precise angles.
The key meaning of this is that the Neanderthals not only figured out how to get the desired results much more frequently than random chance, but also that they remembered the proper angles to use and likely even passed that knowledge on to each other.
This level of memory, abstract thinking, and overall communication is beyond what many people thought Neanderthals would have been capable of.
To put it simply, they were not only able to make sharp stones, but were quite sharp themselves.
If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about 50 amazing finds on Google Earth.

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